Restrictions Relaxed, Australia Prepares To Give Booster Dose Of COVID-19 Vaccine

Illustration of a COVID-19 vaccination center in New South Wales, Australia. (Wikimedia Commons/Jass908)

JAKARTA - Australian authorities plan to immediately launch booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent re-infection, as restrictions ease in Sydney and Melbourne.

Australia has ditched its zero COVID strategy in favor of suppressing the coronavirus, having largely eradicated infections for most of the year, and is now aiming to live with the virus through higher vaccinations.

Officials are gradually shifting their focus to administering a third dose or booster dose, as the percentage of complete two-dose COVID-19 vaccines approaches 75 percent. booster injections because the double-dose vaccination rate in the Australian adult population is close to 75 percent. Meanwhile, nearly 87 percent of people over 16 have received their first dose since the nationwide rollout began in February.

"We think what will happen is booster injections will be available starting six months from your second dose", Lieutenant General John Frewen, head of the vaccination task force, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp, as quoted by Reuters October 25.

Advice from Australia's immunization advisory group on booster injections was imminent, he said, adding staff and resident health workers at aged and disabled care centers would be offered doses in the early phases.

Amid a surge in vaccinations, Victoria on Monday recorded its lowest rise in daily infections in nearly three weeks at 1,461, while cases fell for a fourth straight day in neighboring New South Wales to 294.

Officials in Victoria sought to ease more restrictions on gatherings and movement on Friday, just a week after Melbourne, the state capital, came out of its sixth lockdown during the pandemic, with Sydney lifting its lockdown two weeks ago.

Please note, the double-dose vaccination rate in Victoria's adult population will reach 80 percent by then, a rate at which masks will not be required outdoors and people are free to travel throughout the state.

That rate is close to 85 percent in New South Wales, home to Sydney, with the state expected to hit 90 percent next week. The next set of restrictions will be relaxed on December 1, when lockdown rules will be lifted for the unvaccinated, according to the state's reopening plan.